1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a machine and a method for the silk-screen printing of flat objects, such as compact discs, telephone cards or solar cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such printing machines are mounted in a production line which extends linearly. The objects are moved from one work station to another by conveyors. The work stations carry out different operations of manufacturing, printing and packaging the objects.
For those assembly lines, it is desirable to produce printing machines which operate at high speed and which have a small space requirement.
In particular, it is desirable to multiply by two the rate at which the objects are printed.
To that end, a printing machine is known which comprises a printing station capable of printing two objects at the same time.
That printing machine comprises a circular plate driven in rotation relative to a support frame. The circular plate carries object supports on which two objects to be printed are arranged. The printing station is mounted around the circular plate.
The silk-screen printing screen of the printing station is suitable for covering the two objects to be printed. It carries two patterns to be printed. During its displacement, the same doctor blade of the printing station is capable of applying the first pattern to the first object and the second pattern to the second object.
However, in that type of printing machine, the objects to be printed have to be positioned on the object support with a high degree of precision, it being necessary for the position of one object relative to the other to be identical when each pair of objects is deposited since the position of one pattern relative to the other cannot be modified.